Chess Championships: Anand-Carlsen play out a quick tie

Nov 21, 2014, 08:25 IST
|
Anupama Gokhale

Viswanathan Anand had no difficulty in holding world champion Magnus Carlsen to a draw in Game 9 of the world chess championship match being played at Sochi

Viswanathan Anand had no difficulty in holding world champion Magnus Carlsen to a draw in Game 9 of the world chess championship match being played at Sochi. Carlsen leads in the match with 5 points to Anand's 4, needing just 1.5 points to clinch the world chess title.

Magnus Carlsen and Viswanathan Anand (Pic/Getty Images)

For the first time in the match, Anand was easily able to score a draw against Magnus with black pieces. Anand employed the Berlin Defence yet again and chess lovers expected a marathon struggle just like in Game 7 where Anand scored a draw in the same opening after 122 moves. It was, however, apparent soon that Anand's team had worked hard during the rest day before the game to cook up a new move early in the game.

Magnus, having no inclination to take unnecessary risks, decided to play it safe and gave a pawn break in the centre and immediately forced the draw by giving Anand's king checks with his knight. As per the rules of the game, the game was declared as a draw after threefold repetition of the same position.

With just three games to go, the scales favour Carlsen to win the world title for the second time in a row. However, Anand's supporters have not lost all hope as the Indian maestro will now play two out of three games with white pieces.

If Anand and his team have some opening surprises in their bag for the world champion, Anand still can put hurdles in Carlsen's path. It will be dangerous for Carlsen to be overconfident due to his one-point lead over Anand. Chess history has ample examples of champions losing their lead and the match ultimately.